Déjà Wu: Even on First Lady Michelle Obama, sometimes a belt is just a belt

Jason Wu redux: Even on Michelle Obama sometimes a belt is just a belt

It was prom night for politicos on Monday, and the breathless anticipation was televised live, much like the Oscars’ red carpet.

At POTUS’s ball, Barack and Michelle Obama danced to Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together, performed by Jennifer Hudson. Obama wore the same formal white tie and tuxedo (with a neatly folded pocket square à la Don Draper’s lapel pin) that he did four years ago. Mrs. Obama surprised onlookers by eschewing her rainmaker powers and chose once again to wear a gown by Jason Wu: a vibrant red cut-velvet chiffon gown with a keyhole, criss-crossing halter neckline and soft Grecian-style column skirt.

As for the morning ceremony itself, she donned a panelled Thom Browne coat in sober navy menswear fabric; some experts commented on the way its meticulous tailoring and fit recalled armour. But are we trying to glean too much from her wardrobe?

After spending the day in a tailored dress and matching navy jacquard coat by Thom Browne, Mrs. Obama chose another Jason Wu dress: a ruby red chiffon and velvet gown with a keyhole, criss-crossing neckline detail and soft Grecian-style pleating to the two official Inauguration Balls on Monday night.

The designer was born in Taiwan and lived in Canada as a child (he learned to sew in Vancouver, where he first “caught the fashion bug,” as my 2010 interview with Wu mentions) before moving to the U.S. to attend school and eventually launch his eponymous contemporary label.

For his part, President Obama was in formal tuxedo white tie and a neatly-folded pocket square (à la Don Draper) with his lapel pin. The President and First Lady’s first dance was to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” performed by Jennifer Hudson.

International media coverage of Obama’s 2009 inauguration meant that Michelle’s choice of a white gown by the young, relatively unknown Wu focused millions of dollars in free publicity on the designer and helped elevate his career to another level — collaborations with Target and a secondary line, Miss Wu, along with accessories and a bridal collection, indeed soon followed.

For those who may have forgotten the flurry of media at the time: Wu was born in Taiwan and lived in Vancouver as a child, where he learned to sew and first “caught the fashion bug,” as he told me in a 2010 interview, before moving to the United States to attend school and eventually launch his eponymous contemporary label.

Four years later, both the fashion and mainstream press still breathlessly take note of what the First Lady wears at public events, but never is she more scrutinized than at special occasions, such as the black and red Narciso Rodriguez dress she wore for Obama’s Election Night victory speech in 2008. Next came the mom-in-chief belted cardigans and dirndl skirts reminiscent of June Cleaver’s 1950s silhouette, the high-low mix from J.Crew and the more decorous formal attire for state events, such as elaborate Marchesa, J. Mendel and Naeem Khan gowns.

Some of the endless chatter on her choices is just noise, but it’s not all gormless.

Leading up to the regime change in 2008, the fashion flock fawned over European labels. Back then, Seventh Avenue sharply felt the economic downtown all the while experiencing the effect of the influx of ever-cheaper, generic and knockoff fast-fashion, much of it made elsewhere.

In the interim — and much more so than any other person or institution — Michelle Obama has been able to turn the gaze back toward homegrown designers and brands. It’s no coincidence that the palette of Vogue’s current February cover is red, white and blue, and cover lines proclaiming the spring season contents scream, “100 Looks 100% American.”

You could also posit how Michelle’s toned bare arms relate to her mandate of athleticism and fitness. The First Lady’s carefully curated mix of clothes are an expression of personality, although not entirely trustworthy to be interpreted as the extension of one. In her 2011 book Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style, journalist Kate Betts distinguishes this as, “the person and the persona — the private self and the projected public image.”

But if you’re looking for more substantive subtext in First Lady trends — back to the hidden meaning of Mamie Eisenhower’s bangs or potency of Jackie Kennedy’s pillbox — sometimes a cute belt is just that.